We are in the home stretch now--one more month to go! This is both exciting and a bit scary, as we have so many activities to come during this last 4 weeks. The kids tend to get summer-itis during this time of year. Please help keep them focused during these last couple of weeks, so that they can end the trimester on a positive note!
* Midterms went home on Friday with your child. Please sign and return one copy. You can keep everything else that was stapled together!
* Krista is our star student this week! We look forward to learning more about her!
* The award winning book review is due today (Monday)! This should have been completed through Biblionasium. For our last book challenge, the kids will pick a free choice book that is just right for him/her. He/she will then prepare a book talk about this book. We will use these books to compile a summer reading suggestion list to go home with report cards in June! Information about what is expected in the book talk will go home with your child this week.
* We continue to work with note taking in reading to help us determine the importance of information. This week we will record our facts, questions, and responses while working with a historical fiction book. The kids will also interpret lingering questions from this story. We will then go back to working with some nonfiction text, where the kids will code the text to help hold on to the thinking and distinguish between interesting and important facts. We will start picking out VIP (very important points) from our reading and give reasons to back up why we feel these are important.
* The kids are working hard on their fictional stories! This week we will create our last rising action and turning point. The kids will review how to correctly use dialogue in a story and how to paragraph their thoughts. We will also begin to write our rough draft of our story. From here we will take it through the editing and revision process.
* In science our focus will be on glaciers and the Ice Age during the first part of the week. We will look at glacial deposition and different creations that are made by glaciers. We will then begin experimenting with the abrasion of wind and sand. The kids will create wind boxes which will allow them to explore how wind can erode hoo-doos, transport sand, and shape landforms. We will also show how wind deposits sand dunes. While our science unit is fun, it's also messy. We are beginning to run out of wipes again. If you can donate a container, that would be greatly appreciated!
* We begin Unit 9 in math which covers fractions, decimals, and percents. A parent letter explaining our unit was sent home with your child on Friday. This week we will spend time with a basic review of decimals, followed by converting "easy" fractions to decimals and percents. These are fractions which have denominators that can be converted to 10 or 100. We will then begin to use our calculator to convert fractions to decimals, fractions to percents, and finally conversions among all three (fractions, percents, and decimals). Basic facts are still an important part of our learning, so please make sure your child is practicing multiplication and division at home each week!
* Have a wonderful start to your week! ~ Mrs. Galazka
